Tag: atmosphere

The gringa would like to share an interesting timeline of the earliest Earth events. Now, ancient history might seem boring but the gringa discovered a very peculiar fact she had never thought about before. There was life on Earth before there was even oxygen! How in the world is that possible? Well, think about it. In order for biological life as we know it to exist on Earth, oxygen must be the second most plentiful gas in the atmosphere. In general, the air we breathe is about:

78% Nitrogen

21% Oxygen

Less than 1% Argon

Less than 1% Carbon Dioxide

To create this winning oxygenated atmospheric recipe on ancient Earth, trees had to be photosynthesizing. But there was stuff living here long before there were trees! How the heck did it survive? Well, let’s look at the timeline first:

4.5 billion years ago (or thereabouts) Earth comes into existence

3.5 billion years ago (or thereabouts) microbes are living on Earth

2.5 billion years ago (or thereabouts) sulfur-eating bacteria is living on Earth

530 million years ago (or thereabouts) fish are living on Earth

400 million years ago (or thereabouts) trees emerged on Earth

230 million years ago (or thereabouts) dinosaurs are living on Earth

So, the gringa wants to know how the heck microbes, bacteria and fish were surviving on an Earth that had, compared to today’s atmospheric standards, a virtually zero oxygen environment. Scientists believe that early Earth’s atmosphere consisted of methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Earth’s earliest microbes lived in the sediments below the shallows of the planet’s oceans shorelines. They fed and breathed on the sulfur in the atmosphere. As they absorbed sunlight for energy, they became the first life form to contribute oxygen to the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis. But shoreline colonies of microbes could by no means contribute oxygen on the same level as vast forests. So oxygen was basically a trace atmospheric gas at this time.

Ancient bacteria ate sulfur and converted hydrogen sulfide into sulfate, which is oxidized sulfur. Cyanobacteria, commonly called blue-green algae, began to proliferate and also performed a photosynthesis function adding oxygen to the planet’s oceans and atmosphere.

As microbes and bacteria died, they received a burial at sea. Their decomposition also contributed more oxygen to the waters. As the world’s oceans began to become more oxygenated, fish started making their appearance during the Cambrian era. They were typically invertebrate species like jellyfish, worms, crustaceans and molluscs.

Jellyfish diffuse oxygen through their cells. Giant tube worms, that still live in our oceans near underwater volcanic vents, an inhospitable environment for most carbon based life, have a special organ to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide into oxygen. Today’s molluscs have a respiratory system that uses gills, just like fish.

And from these strange beginnings, it has been a slow evolutionary crawl to the world we know today. The gringa is amazed. We all owe our lives to the humble microbe and smelly sulfur. Fascinating. But where did microbes come from? Did they simply just “appear” out of thin air? Could they have originated from another planet, arriving here by accident or delivered on purpose by ancestral aliens? Let’s look at planets that had similar atmosphere’s to early Earth, which would have then naturally been a likely choice for microbes looking for a new home:

Venus has an atmosphere enveloped by sulfuric clouds.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune all have methane and ammonia in their atmospheres, as does Saturn’s moon, Titan

Pluto has an atmosphere dominated by carbon monoxide

The atmosphere of Mars is 96% carbon dioxide but also has ammonia and hydrogen sulfide

So, the gringa thinks it’s possible that the ancestral microbes we humans evolved from may have originated from outer space. But, over time, a life form evolved that can never naturally survive on the planet of its origins. So much for a homecoming party!

When I was a young girl Six Flags was the big event once a year. The gringa was a country girl from a small town. I attended a tiny, rural school where the same 20 or so classmates I had were together every year from childhood through our teen years. A single building housed the classrooms for every grade, kindergarten through 12th grade. Once kids entered the 6th grade, officially “Junior High”, you felt as if you had hit the big time. That was the year you got included on the annual school trip to Six Flags, the biggest theme park in our state. It was about a 2 hour drive away to the big city.

My first year to go was the grand opening of the big, new, rollercoaster attraction, the Shockwave. Two loop-de-loops of spine tingling action. The gringa was too young and naïve to realize that all the boys interested in going on the Spelunker ride with the girls only wanted to steal a kiss in the cool, dark passages. That was the second time in the gringa’s life that she socked a boy in the nose. But I learned quickly and didn’t fall for that trick a second time.

Now what has happened for the gringa to be reminiscing back to rollercoasters and clocking school boys? China. It’s all China’s fault. They have gone and done it this time. The gringa is counting her pennies and wondering just how fast she can afford to go to China. The gringa doesn’t plan on rollercoasters, though. No, now that I’m middle aged and epilepsy has had its toll on certain aspects, rollercoasters are out unless the gringa’s got paramedics lined up and waiting at the end of the ride. For the more sedate lifestyle I live now, the gringa still seeks adventure but with a smoother ride. Hence, China.

Remember when the gringa told you about Virgin Galactic and how you could hitch a ride to the highest heavens for a cool, couple hundred grand? Well, the gringa is certain that China can do it better and cheaper. In fact, considering that China is marketing their new ride as a feature at a theme park, surely tickets prices will be family friendly.

The plan is envisioned by KuangChi Science. The ride will be a balloon launch that will take passengers 15 miles into the atmosphere (24 kilometers). The projected $1.5 billion project will encapsulate passengers in an airtight cabin beneath the balloon. Dubbed Shenzhou V after China’s first manned space mission in 2003, the cabin is designed to block dangerous cosmic rays yet provide the comfort of a limousine-style ride. Once reaching top altitude, passengers will enjoy a peaceful cruise lasting a few hours before descent begins. Although the ticket price hasn’t been announced, the gringa has got her fingers crossed that it may be in the $50 dollar range and include complimentary fortune cookies. Am I expecting too much?

Why hasn’t mankind been back to the Moon? Why do humans only travel as far as the International Space Station (ISS) and no further if Russia and the United States have already had successful Moon landing missions? These questions fuel the conspiracy fires that claim the Apollo Moon landing was a staged scene and never really happened. Regardless of a person’s position on this, what of Russia? If they made it to the Moon, why haven’t they been back either?

During the years of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, it was always a game of one-upmanship. Rather than flinging bombs at one another it was a bit of “Whatever you can do I can do better.” The space race was no exception.

In 1961 the Soviet Union took the lead in the space race when Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth and returned home, all in one piece. In response, U.S. President John F. Kennedy did not say, “Well done.” No, instead he threw down the gauntlet and swore that the U.S. would out-do the Soviet’s achievement. He declared that within a decade Americans would have a man on the Moon and back home safe and sound. Eight years later people around the world watched televised broadcasts of Neil Armstrong planting a U.S. flag on the surface of the Moon. Or did he?

What we know now compared to what we knew then may cast great doubt on the legitimacy of the Apollo mission. Accusations that film director Stanley Kubrick prepared a fake production staged with the latest technologies of 70s era filmdon may actually have credibility. Consider the most common criticisms that point to the film being a fake:

Wind mysteriously blowing a flag that should be in the vacuum of space.

Anomalous shadows cast in different directions which would indicate multiple sources of light.

No disturbance of lunar dust or the Moon’s surface from the landing of the space module.

What are the strange objects that are reflected at different times in the visors of the astronaut’s space helmet?

Where are all the stars that should be in the background?

Skeptics of conspiracy theories can argue away these questions. For years the gringa has been inclined to believe in the Moon landing as an event that really did happen. My reason being that, for one thing, think about how many people would have to be in on such a crazy secret for all of these decades. I don’t know about you, dear readers, but the gringa’s pretty certain that somewhere along the way, throughout all of these years, surely someone would have cracked.

Despite my confidence in NASA, however, the gringa must admit that by becoming informed about the Van Allen radiation belts, I may have to change my position. This may be the smoking gun that exposes how the entire world has been duped. The U.S., desperate to remain relevant and seen as the most powerful nation, outperforming its most aggressive global competitor, may have gone so far as to stage the most incredible hoax of all time.

You see, the Van Allen radiation belts surround the Earth. Consider these belts to be an enormous layered donut and the Earth the donut hole. They radiate outward as far as 36,000 miles depending on whether they are expanding or contracting. The innermost ring generally spans from 400-6,000 miles above the surface of the Earth. The outer belt stretches generally from about 8,400-36,000 miles above Earth. The ISS is safely tucked into orbit at a mere 230 miles from the Earth’s surface in what is called a Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Orbiting between the two belts is a GPS satellite set 12,500 miles away, just inside the innermost rim of the outermost belt, where radiation levels fluctuate according to waxing and waning cycles. Just within the outermost layer of the outermost belt is NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in geosynchronous orbit at 22,000 miles away studying the mess solar radiation makes from time to time.

In addition to the Van Allen radiation belts is the problem of a cloud of cool, charged particles which envelopes most of Earth’s outer atmosphere. Its nearest edge is about 600 miles from the surface of the Earth and extends outward and stops just inside the outermost edge of the furthest Van Allen belt. Scientists call this cloud the plasmasphere. It seems to cause particles in the outer belt to scatter. As the electrons scatter they create a loop which becomes a well defined belt. The plasmasphere is responsible for creating and maintaining the belts. When a powerful solar event occurs, such as a solar flare, some of the belts’ electrons can be forced by these extreme conditions into the space void between the belt layers, thus creating the waxing and waning effect of the belts.

The craziness of this relationship boggles the gringa’s mind. Think about it. The electrons are prevented by Earth’s magnetic field from penetrating all the way to Earth and frying all of us Earthlings. However, they also do not have enough energy to escape and dissipate into outer space. Thus they are trapped in this belt system which results in a protective barrier that traps dangerous radioactive solar radiation so that we don’t all get fried. Without the belts we fry. Without the plasmosphere we fry. Without the magnetosphere we fry. And if we hang out in any of these Earth preserving regions for any length of time we fry. Is that not the most amazing irony? That which preserves us can also kill us.

Considering that the Moon is 238,900 miles from the Earth, these dangerous, radioactive belts must have been navigated safely with the technology available in 1969. The only other option would have been to “thread the needle”, so to speak, by using a trajectory that would have allowed astronauts to travel through a narrow window of space that would have avoided the highest concentrations of radiation within the belts.

If this path had been successfully traveled in 1969, and adequate shielding technology existed, why is the danger posed by the Van Allen belts considered to be the main obstacle and unsolved problem preventing a consecutive Moon landing today? The gringa suspects the answer may lie in the fact that there really was no successful 1969 Moon landing to begin with.

Here are the words and quotes NASA uses to describe the Van Allen belts today:

2 donuts of seething radiation.

Impenetrable barrier.

Wax and wane.

Expose satellites in low-Earth orbit to damaging radiation.

So what did NASA do to deal with the dangers of the Van Allen belts? Did they come up with a competent strategy and deliver the real deal with a man on the Moon or did they scam the entire world?

Newly discovered in 1958 by scientist James Van Allen, not much was known about them two years later when the first solution was offered up. In 1960 Robert O. Piland and Stanley C. White told NASA that hoping to shield astronauts effectively from the radiation was impractical. They did believe they could provide moderate protection and a safe enough route that would enable astronauts to not fry as they passed through the outer belt.

NASA got to work with a Group On Trajectory Analysis. Van Allen, himself, suggested that by detonating a nuclear warhead the crew could clear a path of travel. The gringa can only say, “Thank goodness NASA didn’t do that!” However, the defense industry in the US really mucked things up by nuclear testing which only increased the intensity of the radiation levels in the belts.

In 1964 NASA officials were confident that with the right skin on the spacecraft, a layer of protection provided by instrumentation, and the right trajectory, the risk was nominal to the crew. Equipped with dosimeters to record radiation exposure, the gringa is puzzled over the final results as reported by NASA. The agency reports that over the course of all the Lunar missions, astronauts were only exposed to radiation levels that were actually lower than the 5 rem a person working in a nuclear power plant would be exposed to annually. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission claims that the average American is exposed to a radiation dose of about 0.62 rem annually. A full body CAT scan delivers a radiation dose of 1 rem. So any human going through some rather routine medical procedures can easily reach the same radiation exposure levels as what NASA reported in the Apollo Moon landing crew.

ISS astronauts deal with radiation issues daily. It took the gringa quite a bit of head scratching and calculating to discover how ISS astronaut radiation levels compare to the astronauts of the Apollo Moon missions. They use a different measurement, the SI system. Maybe, if there is a conspiracy, this is by design to confuse amateur sleuths like myself. Anyway, I digress.

Basically one mSv is the equivalent dose of radiation an average person would be exposed to on Earth in one year’s time. Astronauts on the ISS are exposed to 1 mSv daily! This exposure takes place well outside the Van Allen belts in a space station constructed with the latest technology in radiation shielding and manned by personnel equipped with the safest space suit equipment available. How, then, could minimally protected astronauts pass through highly radioactive belts not just once, but twice, and not be ravaged with radiation? If ISS astronauts report a daily radiation exposure equivalent to a year’s worth of radiation back home and are not in the belts themselves, how in the world is the public supposed to believe that the Apollo astronauts were only exposed to the amount of radiation a person would absorb if they had 4-5 full-body CAT scans?

The gringa has become incredibly skeptical. The gringa is going to be hopping mad if she discovers hard evidence that proves we have all been had. NASA, please explain.

One wouldn’t usually think that a rock-n-roll music producer would be synonymous with space flight, but think again, dear readers. If you haven’t heard of Thirdman Records before, please let the gringa educate you on how this music production company deserves a place at the space traveling table and how you can earn a seat yourself. It’s all because of Icarus.

No, not the imprisoned Icarus of Greek mythology who escaped with his father using wax wings to fly skyward but then plummeted to his death after flying too near the Sun. The Icarus creation of Thirdman Records fared much better in its space travels. Celebrating their 7th Anniversary, the record company made music and space history by launching a specially designed turntable into space that was tethered to a spaceflight worthy balloon. Installed upon the turntable on a play loop was the company’s three millionth record, the recording “A Glorious Dawn” by Carl Sagan from composer John Boswell’s “Cosmos”.

Icarus made a successful journey that reached a peak altitude of nearly 95,000 feet above the earth and traveled for almost an hour and a half. As it reached the pinnacle of its flight the balloon burst and Icarus began its descent, controlled by parachute. The record played faithfully throughout the smooth ascension. Descent triggered Icarus to enter “turbulence mode” which raised the needle from the vinyl but the record continued to spin. When the entire space vehicle was recovered after setting down in a vineyard, the record, amazingly, was still spinning, a testament to sound design.

Now, record producers are not necessarily spaceship engineers. To achieve this mission, Thirdman friend and electronics consultant, Kevin Carrico, collaborated with SATINS (Students and Teachers in Near Space). The team needed to create a design that would not only operate successfully in a near space environment, but would also meet government standards established by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and FCC (Federal Communications Commission), whose approval is required in order to launch any space vehicle.

The design had to take into account that rising altitudes, a thinning atmosphere, temperature fluctuations and the vacuum of space would all be variables affecting the integrity of a vinyl record. It can melt or distort if it gets too hot or exposed to the Sun for too long. Temperature fluctuations create expansion and contraction which could render the record unplayable. As Icarus traveled in direct sunlight, the team designed the turntable so that it would cool the record as it played. To prevent distortion due to temperature fluctuations, the grooves of the vinyl were plated with gold.

From the moment the artists of Thirdman Records conceived of this ingenious anniversary event, it took three years of research and development to finally be ready by launch day. Carrico credits the project’s success to his father, Dr. John P. Carrico, PhD., a physicist who worked on NASA’s Mars-Viking missions. The gringa can fully appreciate how a father like that would inspire space dreams of epic proportions.

Anyone with the same kind of dreams can create their own work of art that they can launch into the heavens as a gift to any alien species that might happen upon it. Contact the FAA and FCC about their rules and guidelines regarding unmanned aircraft systems. Design your space vehicle to meet their guidelines then get approval for launch! Don’t forget to let the gringa know your launch date! I already approve!

If you are an amateur stargazer who enjoys viewing interesting cosmic objects through a telescope, there are a few galactic peepshows you want to make sure you execute before the subjects disappear forever. Russia has announced their intention to test their intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by blasting to smithereens certain near-earth objects (NEOs). The spacerocks in their crosshairs range in size from 20-50 meters (65-165 feet). Potential targets are asteroids as well as meteorites that have broken off from asteroids which orbit the Sun and are capable of surviving the atmospheric burn of falling to Earth, posing the risk of slamming into the surface of our planet. Russia’s target practice could serve to save lives which usually runs counter to the whole point of ICBMs.

The first scheduled missile test is slated for 2036. That is when scientists expect asteroid 99942 Apophis to come within a dangerous close proximity to Earth. Although NASA has definitively ruled out the possibility of an impact, it is still expected to be a close enough encounter that Russia believes it will be within missile range. What weapons junkie could resist such an opportunity?

However, these high grade shoot-en-anny toys require upgrades. It takes days to properly prepare the fuel the rockets use. That means that Russia’s current ICBM’s cannot be rapidly deployed to destroy a meteorite that Earthlings may only detect within hours of coming into range, such as the Chelyabinsk meteorite. It will take millions of dollars to make the necessary changes. However, when they are completed Russia’s weapons of war will be converted to defensive weapons keeping the entire world safe. Instead of Russia launching people killers, they will be launching people saving asteroid blasters. Does that mean that by means of defensive measures we all become Russian by proxy? Or perhaps that simply means for a brief moment, we all become one united human race? Either way, the gringa thinks the sentiment is sweet.

Bottom line for backyard stargazers is that if you want to have a chance of seeing Apophis, you will get your last chance in about thirteen years. The asteroid was discovered twelve years ago and is a bit larger than three football fields. A pass of the asteroid is expected in 2029. This may be humanity’s last chance to view it before it’s 2036 pass that could be its final one if Russia gets its proposal approved and succeeds in blasting Apophis to infinity and beyond.

Although the 2036 pass only has a one in a million chance of impacting Earth, it is still an historical event where astronomy is concerned. Apophis will be the largest asteroid that has ever come as close to Earth as it is projected to. It will zoom by almost 19,000 miles over the heads of unsuspecting Earthlings. Although there are other asteroid’s that pass closer, such as 2012 DA14 which does a 17,000 mile altitude flyby, Apophis is much, much larger than the nearer pipsqueaks.

It is amazing how many NEOs travel by our home planet. Astronomy is a career where there is never a dull moment if you are entrusted with the task of tracking NEOs and projecting trajectories. This is a very important job to determine courses in order to protect all of humanity from the possibility of a collision. For kids intrigued with outer space and who don’t mind the math, astronomy offers the opportunity of a lifetime. To get a taste of the work they do, follow their reports on NASA’s Asteroid Watch program and stay current with updates through Twitter.

As researchers plot their space plans to discover where possibilities lie for a home planet like Earth, that might even be supporting our ancestors, where are they looking? MIT astronomers comprising an international team in Belgium are plotting for a search about 40 light years away. That means if we don’t want a spaceship to arrive with astronauts dead of old age or perhaps affected by age-related dementia, we have to send astronauts in the age group of 20s-40s to manage the forty year flight mission. It may take another decade or two for space agencies to have the ability to travel that far so elementary and middle school children of today are the astronauts of tomorrow that may be slated for just such a mission.

Beyond our solar system is the best bet for finding life like our own, or at least a few planets like ours. An MIT team has discovered three planets that orbit a dwarf star about 40 light years away. Their sizes are about the same as Earth or Venus. The telescope the astronomy used to locate them is the TRAPPIST telescope located in Chile. This telescope is designed to specifically focus on a cluster of dwarf stars, 60 in number. Belgian scientists created TRAPPIST to study the infrared wavelengths of dwarf stars and the planets surrounding them.

The scientist’s favorite dwarf star is an ultracool (as in thermally ultracool, not socially hip) star about the size of Jupiter and much cooler than our own sun. Beginning a period of observation in September, 2015, the astronomy team observed regular intervals of fading in the infrared signature of the star. They theorized that planets were passing in front of the star causing this to occur.

The team turned their attention to the time to expect a light fade event and discovered that there were, indeed, planets orbiting the star. The two nearest planets were similar in size to our own Earth and Venus. The closest planet that has everyone’s attention is named 2MASS J23062928-0502285, commonly called TRAPPIST-1. The two planets have orbit cycles, respectively, of 1.5 of our own days and 2.4 days. The amount of radiation they absorb from their star is significantly more than what we deal with. The closest one receives about four times the radiation we get and the next one about two times the amount. So, if there is any life there it would have to have evolved with natural radiation tolerance.

The third planet in distance from the star has an unknown orbit cycle. The scientists’ best guess so far is that it could be anywhere from four to 73 days but would receive significantly less radiation. I guess that’s good news. If we need to relocate I suppose we could deal with a four-day long day or even a two-month long day and not have to worry about skin cancer.

When the team analyzes the size of the planets in relation to the star, and take into account their proximity to their sun, they believe that life could be sustainable. They calculate that there could be areas with a temperature range less than 400 kelvins. That converts to about 260 degrees Fahrenheit or 127 degrees Celsius. Not exactly a tropical paradise but conditions where liquid water and organic life could survive.

The next step is to study the atmospheric conditions of the planets to see what their atmospheres are composed of. What kind of gases? Is there breathable oxygen? And they believe that within their own working career’s lifetime they will be able to determine if these planets are inhabited with life of some kind, say the next ten years or so.

This is a breakthrough in science. Traditionally scientists have studied bright solar stars like our own. By taking a risk and searching for a cool dwarf star, this MIT group has hit paydirt with the find of a lifetime. To accomplish their task they had to design a whole new set of instruments specialized to detect the radiation emitted by cold dwarf stars and only visible through an infrared telescope. The whole field of detecting other worlds changed simply by changing the wavelength humans were viewing the galaxy with. Perspective is everything.

Shall the gringa take the time to debunk an anonymous “whistle-blower” who claims that the European Space Agency is in communication with extra-terrestrials under the guise of a comet-chasing space program? Yes, dear reader, let us please do and do so together. First, a few preliminary facts about the ESA’s comet chaser mission, the Rosetta space probe:

2004 Rosetta space probe launches for a ten year journey through space, chasing down a comet.

2014 Rosetta arrived and locked into a matching orbit with comet 67P, also known as Churyumov-Gerasimenko (which the gringa likes to refer to as Chur-Ger).

Philae lander module touches down on the surface of the comet and begins collecting scientific data and transmitting back to Earth.

Allegations by the ESA insider “whistle-blower”, sent anonymously by e-mail to a science blogger:

Chur-Ger is not a comet.

Chur-Ger is an object that has been sending signals received by NASA for over two decades.

Illegally obtained digital images were forwarded alleging that artificial structures exist on the surface of Chur-Ger.

Chur-Ger has an unusual movement pattern inconsistent with a trajectory or orbit of a natural celestial body.

NASA has records indicating that Chur-Ger has changed its trajectory rather than have another space object causing it.

Rosetta is not a comet chasing science mission but a cover-up for a joint NASA/ESA military style reconnaissance mission to discover just what the heck Chur-Ger really is.

Facts gathered from official ESA Rosetta mission reports:

November 12, 2014, Philae successfully landed on the comet (a first time ever maneuver).

May 27, 2016 the amino acid glycine was detected in the comet’s atmosphere. This amino acid is necessary for the construction of DNA and cell membranes. The building blocks of life were found on the comet which lends credence to the Anthropocene theory of how life began on Earth, life creating substances being delivered to Earth by hitchhiking on a comet or asteroid which collided with our planet.

Chur-Ger was not the first comet to have life creating amino acids (re: comet Wild-2 & NASA’s Stardust mission)

Glycine does not require water to form, solving the origins of life in outer space theory problem of no liquid water yet found on any celestial object other than Earth.

Phosphorus was also detected which is necessary for DNA to form a framework and for cells to transport chemical energy.

March 11, 2016 the ESA reports that there is an interesting magnetic-free bubble surrounding Chur-Ger’s nucleus and extending outward about 4,000 km. Basically, the comet is not magnetized. The de-magnetized properties results in the comet’s trajectory being affected in ways that are not typical for celestial objects.

April 7, 2016 it was reported that Chur-Ger changed colors. Within the months after Rosetta’s arrival, Chur-Ger was very near the Sun. The heat from the Sun stripped away older surface materials and newer, brighter materials were exposed. Reflective properties changed. Chur-Ger changed from being a dark object to a brighter, bluer object. In all, the comet became about 34% brighter.

April 26, 2016 Philae lander awakens and begins data collection but does not begin transmitting data until June 13.

July 9, 2015 the Philae lander enters hibernation mode and discontinues data transmission. It is suspected that dust from Chur-Ger may be coating Philae’s solar panels, interfering with their ability to recharge.

September 2016, after years of providing scientists with fascinating data about comets, the Rosetta mission comes to an end as the space probe slowly crash-lands onto the comet. (Even in outer space humans are litter bugs.)

One reason that space agencies are willing to spend billions studying comets is that they are the best resources to find the origins of life. They have basically been frozen in time, the same today as they were billions of years ago. They are the perfect reservoirs to contain the primitive biological material that may have resulted in you and I today.

Although the possibility of a secret mission involving communication with extra-terrestrials sounds exciting, the gringa is equally excited over the actual findings of the building blocks of life on a comet. To consider that humans are really the extra-terrestrials after all, that we all originated from somewhere in outer space, is utterly compelling. That means we are all truly the children of stardust or we have a home world somewhere which begs the questions of: A. Is it still inhabited? B. If not still inhabited, are there ruins and artifacts to be discovered that will shed light on who our ancient ancestors were? C. Have comets deposited life building blocks on other planets that have also evolved into intelligent life?

So, although the whistle-blower suspects humans in communication with ETs on a comet, the gringa believes every human may already be communicating with ETs every day just by talking to each other! So, in essence, the Rosetta mission, in search of the origins of human life in outer space, is also on a search for extra-terrestrials like the whistle-blower claims. It’s really a search for ourselves, because the gringa suspects that we are not really from around here.